A senator on Thursday called on President Arroyo to tell the truth about her reported "secret meeting" with executives of ZTE Corp. in Shenzhen, China in November 2006, a few months before the government awarded the contract for the national broadband network (NBN) project to the Chinese company.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II, one of the co-chairmen of the Senate probe into the ZTE-NBN controversy, said President Arroyo as a public official is bound by "delicadeza" not to meet with prospective suppliers or other interested parties in government projects while contracts are still pending.

The senator also scored Malacañang officials for dismissing the meeting simply as a "private social meeting."

"All official activities of the President are imbued with public interest and subject to full transparency, unless they involve sensitive matters of national security, which was not the case in the Shenzhen visit," he said.

He said the President should disclose the agenda and nature of her trip to Shenzhen.

He said if Mrs. Arroyo won’t explain her trip the public might misconstrue it as the reason behind the government’s decision to shift its procurement preference for the NBN from build-operate-transfer to a straight-out government loan.

On Wednesday Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita confirmed that the First Couple’s "social lunch" with ZTE officials but denied that they discussed the scrapped deal.

Ermita said the November 2, 2006 meeting was part of her official schedule.

In an exclusive ABS-CBN News interview, the new witness, identified as "Alex", said the President's group left the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong on Nov. 2, 2006 at exactly 8:30 a.m. for the trip to Shenzhen.

He said the visit was kept a secret since there were no welcome banners at the boundaries of the two cities, which is the usual practice for state visits.

He added that the President's group was given a grand tour inside the ZTE office before they were invited for a private luncheon meeting.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday said he would reopen the Senate investigation on the broadband deal even as he urged Mrs. Arroyo to respond to Alex's allegations.